Celebrated adventure rider Steve Crombie has completed an unsupported 6000km off-road adventure from Darwin to Sydney on his Lost On… Yamaha WR250R.

Crombie marked the first motorcycle rider this year to navigate through closed roads across hundreds of crocodile-infested rivers to the Gulf of Carpentaria, back out to Cape Crawford, through the Davenport Range and into Alice Springs. From Alice Springs he was also the first rider to cross the Simpson Desert this year despite the area still being officially closed due to flooding.

The incredibly durable Lost On… Yamaha WR250R was developed to handle every type of terrain from deep mud, sand to long distance tarmac. Reaching up to 145km/h fully loaded, the efficient fuel injected 250cc engine enabled Crombie to ride 640km across the Simpson with only 35 litres of fuel – 18.5 kays per litre on one of the toughest trips out there.

From Birdsville he continued across yet another closed area in the Sturt Stony Desert and the Strzelecki Desert before hammering to the Darling River and safely back to Sydney. Once back on the tarmac the WR250R was good for 26km per litre.

The purpose built machine was punished consistently averaging 400-800kms per day on varying terrain without a single performance issue, a credit to the model.

The constant high speeds and unknown landscape put a few dents in the wheel rims and bent a brake disc, but thanks to the outright strength and sophistication of the Lost On… Yamaha WR250R, the ride wasn’t even compromised by a puncture.

“I had never ridden a fuel injected, liquid-cooled engine on any adventure as serious as this one because I never previously had faith in the ability of this new technology to cope with the harshest conditions,” Crombie commented. “But technology has certainly caught up. The little 250cc engine never missed a beat.

“I launched myself over the handlebars a few times, rode for weeks with the throttle wide open and covered some seriously treacherous terrain, but the bike soaked it all up. I would never have taken the calculated risks I took on this journey on a larger or heavier motorcycle due to the difficulty of lifting or manoeuvring the bike in adverse conditions, for example, out of deep sand.

“I changed the oil once, the air filter twice, adjusted the chain once and the WR250R still functions like new. That’s unbelievable.

“The Lost On… Yamaha WR250R is an awesome adventure bike. The combination of light weight and capable off road ability means riders are able to access more challenging, inspiring and untainted terrain. It’s a machine that can get into and out of extraordinary places that few other adventure bikes are capable of doing.”

Crombie will be releasing a book called Lost On Earth in September, the Darwin-Sydney leg just one part of a mammoth 20,000km adventure from Singapore to Sydney. For more information, log on to www.loston.com.

LOST ON… YAMAHA WR250R FEATURES:

• 13.5 litre Safari tank

• Easton 1 1/8 handlebars

• MSC Ralle-Moto steering damper

• Oxford nano LED indicators

• Magellan Triton 2000 GPS

• Staintune tail pipe

• Teknik Motorsport fork and shock tuning

• RK 520GXW chain

• JT sprockets (14/49)

• Acerbis Multiplo handguards

• B&B bashplate, master cylinder guard, numberplate holder, radiator guard

• GYTR rear rack

• Pivot Pegz footpegs

• Dunlop D908 front and D606 rear tyres

• Goodridge brake lines

• Yamaha XJ6S windscreen

• Unifilter air filters

• Graphics by Browns Grafix

• Giant Loop Great Basin Bag (50 litre)

• Adventure Moto 12 litre fuel cell

• Wolfman Enduro tank bag